Democracy Now! Blog

Late at night on March 17, former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide boarded a small plane with his family in Johannesburg. The following morning, he arrived in Haiti. It was just over seven years after he was kidnapped from his home in a U.S.-backed coup d’etat.

Amy Goodman and Sharif Abdel Kouddous are on the ground in Haiti covering former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s return after seven years in exile. We will post updates here over the coming days.

In defiance of the Obama administration, former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide is headed back to Haiti today for the first time since being ousted in a 2004 U.S.-backed coup. Hours ago, Aristide boarded a plane in South Africa bound for Port-Au-Prince. Joining him on the flight is his wife, Mildred Aristide, attorney Ira Kurzban and actor Danny Glover. Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman is also on aboard. Minutes before takeoff she filed this report and sent exclusive photos.

Wisconsin Democratic Senator Chris Larson speaks to Democracy Now! as he races back to Madison to challenge tonight’s anti-union vote to end collective bargaining rights for most public employee workers. "I think a lot of what they’ve done is on the borderlines of what is legal," Larson says. "It’s definitely questionable democracy." [includes rush transcript]

The aspen grove on Kebler Pass in Colorado is one of the largest organisms in the world. Thousands of aspen share the same, interconnected root system. Last weekend, I snowmobiled over the pass, 10,000 feet above sea level, between the towns of Paonia and Crested Butte. I was racing through Colorado to help community radio stations raise funds, squeezing in nine benefits in two days.

No discussion or debate over budgets, over wages and pensions, over deficits, should happen without a clear presentation of the costs of these wars—and the incalculable benefits that ending them would bring.

The workers of Egypt were instrumental in bringing down the regime there, in a remarkable coalition with Egypt’s youth. In the streets of Madison, under the Capitol dome, another demonstration of solidarity is taking place.

Democracy Now’s own Juan Gonzalez has won the 2010 George Polk Award for commentary for his columns in the New York Daily News exposing the scandal behind Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s attempt to create a new computerized payroll system called CityTime. Juan’s reporting helped lead to the federal indictment of four consultants and two associates on charges that they orchestrated a fraud that cost city taxpayers more than $80 million. One of seven people so far arrested in the fraud pleaded guilty two weeks ago and is cooperating. The director of New York City’s Office of Payroll has been forced to resign. So far federal agents have recovered more than $27 million in cash from dozens of bank accounts of dummy companies connected to the scheme. Juan also won a Polk Award in 1998.

Youtube, Facebook and Twitter have become the new weapons of mass mobilization; geeks have taken on dictators; bloggers are dissidents; and social networks have become rallying forces for social justice.

While defense spending increases, with the largest Pentagon funding request since World War II, the budget calls for cutting in half a program called Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP.

CAIRO–The sounds of freedom continue to ring through Cairo, twenty-four hours after Hosni Mubarak was forced to resign by the awe-inspiring resilience and courage of millions of Egyptians who poured onto the streets in unprecedented numbers for 18 continuous days. After three decades of authoritarian rule, the impossible has come to pass; the hated dictator is gone and his notorious police force has all but vanished.

Tune in on Friday for a special two-hour broadcast on the uprising in Egypt. We will be streaming the program live from 8 to 10 a.m. EST. Please encourage your local radio and tv station to air both hours of the special.

Egypt’s burgeoning youth population is driving the revolution. Kareem Amer, who spent four years in prison in Egypt for his blogging, has disappeared off the streets of Cairo after leaving Tahrir Square with a friend.

DN! In Depth

By Amy Goodman with Denis Moynihan — The corporate television newscasts spend more and more time covering the increasingly disruptive, costly and at times deadly weather. But they consistently fail to make the link between extreme weather and climate change.